Huckabee Uses Role At Fox News To Launch Anti-Gay Attacks

Politico reports that when running for U.S. Senate in 1992, Fox News host Mike Huckabee called homosexuality "aberrant, unnatural and sinful." Huckabee does not appear to have changed his anti-gay rhetoric since becoming a Fox News host, comparing homosexuality to drug use and incest, claiming that same-sex marriage is a threat to a "stable society," and promoting virulently anti-gay guests.

Huckabee Made Virulent Anti-Gay Comments As A Public Official

As A Public Official, Huckabee Called Homosexuality An "Aberration" And Condemned The Government For Supporting It Along With Pedophilia, Sadomasochism, And Necrophilia. In a 2007 appearance on Meet the Press, Tim Russert asked Huckabee about his assertion in a 1998 book claiming "it is now difficult to keep track of the vast array of publicly endorsed and institutionally supported aberrations -- from homosexuality and pedophilia to sadomasochism and necrophilia." Huckabee responded that "all of these are deviations from what has been considered the traditional concept of sexual behavior." Russert also asked Huckabee about his assertion in 1992 that "I feel homosexuality is an aberrant, unnatural and sinful lifestyle." Huckabee responded that "all of us are sinners." [Towelroad.com, 1/2/08]

In 1992, Huckabee Came Out Against Additional Funding For AIDS Research And Called For U.S. Government To "Isolate" AIDS Patients. From a December 8, 2007 Politico article:

Huckabee wrote on [an Associated Press] questionnaire that AIDS research was receiving an unfair amount of federal money. Instead, he said celebrities should pay for the research.

"In light of the extraordinary funds already being given for AIDS research, it does not seem that additional federal spending can be justified," Huckabee wrote, according to the AP.

"An alternative would be to request that multimillionaire celebrities, such as Elizabeth Taylor, Madonna and others who are pushing for more AIDS funding be encouraged to give out of their own personal treasuries increased amounts for AIDS research."

[...]

Huckabee also wrote that he wanted to quarantine AIDS patients, according to the AP:

"If the federal government is truly serious about doing something with the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague.... It is difficult to understand the public policy towards AIDS. It is the first time in the history of civilization in which the carriers of a genuine plague have not been isolated from the general population, and in which this deadly disease for which there is no cure is being treated as a civil rights issue instead of the true health crisis it represents." [Politico, 12/8/07]

Huckabee Continues To Campaign Against Gay Rights Since Becoming A Fox News Host

Huckabee Labeled Same-Sex Marriage A Threat To "Stable Society." From the February 25 edition of Fox Business' Freedom Watch:

NAPOLITANO: Can families be non-traditional? And if they're non-traditional, is it any business of the federal government?

HUCKABEE: Well the question is

NAPOLITANO: Can you have two women or two men raise a child?

HUCKABEE: Well, here's the question. What is marriage? Marriage is a man and a woman. That's what it is historically. That's what it is legally. If we change the definition to accommodate a man and a man or a woman and a woman, then why can't we accommodate a man and two women or a woman and three men?

NAPOLITANO: Let me run this past you. Marriage is a contract. It's an agreement between two people whose hearts have joined together. What business is that of the government?

HUCKABEE: The business of government is to ensure that we have the most stable society because we have a $300 billion a year dad deficit in this country. That's in chapter one. I talk about the fact that this is an economic issue. As a libertarian judge, you've got to love the fact that we're spending a lot of government money to pick up the pieces because fathers don't do their duty.

NAPOLITANO: I don't love the fact. I love the fact that you've exposed the fact that we're wasting all the money.

HUCKABEE: Well--and here's another issue. Poverty. Two-thirds of the children in America who are in poverty would not be in poverty if the mothers of those children were married to the fathers of those children.

NAPOLITANO: None of that has anything to do with allowing a same-sex couple down the block to live together and to be married. Question: do conservatives care about the couple down the block?

HUCKABEE: Yes, they do.

NAPOLITANO: Why? --

HUCKABEE: Not that they care what they do privately -

NAPOLITANO: Why do they want to get in their bedroom?

HUCKABEE: No, no no. They don't want to get in their bedroom. They definitely don't want to get in their bedroom. They don't want to see what's going on in that bedroom. But I'll tell you what they want to do. They want to make sure that we have an institution called marriage that really does mean historically that you have a mother and a father because children need the benefit. [Fox Business' Freedom Watch, 2/25/11]

Huckabee Claimed That Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage Is Like Legalizing Drug Use, Incest, And Polygamy. From an April 9, 2010 article concerning an interview Huckabee gave to the College of New Jersey's magazine The Perspective:

He continues to oppose any government recognition of same-sex relationships. Even civil unions are "not necessary," Huckabee said. "I think there's been a real level of being disingenuous on the part of the gay and lesbian community with their goal of civil unions," he alleged, referring to LGBT activists who first claimed that their goal in several states was to enact civil unions, but subsequently launched efforts to implement full marriage rights.

Huckabee went on to draw parallels between homosexuality and other lifestyles that are considered by some to be morally aberrant. "You don't go ahead and accommodate every behavioral pattern that is against the ideal," he said of same-sex marriage. "That would be like saying, well, there are a lot of people who like to use drugs, so let's go ahead and accommodate those who want who use drugs. There are some people who believe in incest, so we should accommodate them. There are people who believe in polygamy, so we should accommodate them." [The Perspective, 4/9/10]

Huckabee Defends His Incest And Polygamy Comments On His Fox News Show. From the April 17, 2010, edition of Fox News' Huckabee:

HUCKABEE: This last week has been kind of a tough week in some ways for me. There were some recent headlines from an interview that I had from a speaking engagement at the College of New Jersey. Here was one of the headlines. From the student newspaper, it said: "Huckabee rips Steele, Romney, and LGBT activists" from this publication called The Perspective. Now, from that, before the week was over, the Associated Press was saying "Huckabee likens gay marriage to incest and polygamy." Uh. Let me tell you. This has been one of those weeks where I've come to understand, once again, why a lot of people, particularly conservatives, have a real problem with the mainstream media.

[...]

HUCKABEE: I made clear my position, which is by the way the same position of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden, is that marriage still means one man, one woman for life, and that we shouldn't change the definition of it. And I mentioned that the burden of proof is not on those of us who believe in the tradition of marriage, but it is on those who wish to change it. But once we have changed the definition to something that it has never meant before, then we just need to remember that if somebody else says, "well I'd like for my lifestyle or my belief system to be accommodated," there is no ending. I did not say that same-sex marriage was the same as incest or drug use or a whole host of things I supposedly said. [Fox News' Huckabee, 4/17/10]

Huckabee Said He Opposes Same-Sex Marriage, In Part, Because Of The "Ick Factor." From a June 28, 2010 New Yorker article:

One afternoon in Jerusalem, while Huckabee was eating a chocolate croissant in the lounge of the Crowne Plaza Hotel, I asked him to explain his rationale for opposing gay rights. "I do believe that God created male and female and intended for marriage to be the relationship of the two opposite sexes," he said. "Male and female are biologically compatible to have a relationship. We can get into the ick factor, but the fact is two men in a relationship, two women in a relationship, biologically, that doesn't work the same."

I asked him if he had any arguments that didn't have to do with God or ickiness. "There are some pretty startling studies that show if you want to end poverty it's not education and race, it's monogamous marriage," he said. "Many studies show that children who grow up in a healthy environment where they have both a mother and a father figure have both a healthier outlook and a different perspective from kids who don't have the presence of both." [New Yorker, 6/28/10]

WALLACE: In the aforementioned New York -- New Yorker magazine article, you got into something of a dust-up with the gay rights community. In the article you say this about gay marriage, "We can get into the ick factor but the fact is two men in a relationship, two women in a relationship -- biologically that doesn't work the same."

A group called the Human Rights Campaign responded, "Ick is certainly an appropriate way to describe Mr. Huckabee's mind going into sex when all that we're asking for is our equality."

Your response, sir?

HUCKABEE: Well, that term actually comes from a gay magazine called The Edge in which the author, Joseph Erbentraut, interviewed Professor Martha Nussbaum from -- one of Barack Obama's colleagues, University of Chicago. She uses a term projected disgust. He, in the interview, coined this phrase. It's in the article that he wrote in the interview with her. That phrase was not mine. It actually is a phrase that exists within the gay community. But somehow it's OK if they talk about it, but if someone else talks about it, it's off bounds.

And it's interesting. The American Spectator -- I thought Joseph Lawler this week did a wonderful analysis of the hypocrisy and the duplicity of those who want to, on one hand, push this issue, but then they really don't want their own discussion to be brought into the public square. It's a little bit disingenuous on their part to make it.

It's not the big issue for me. But if I'm asked about it, I try to be honest that I'm standing where most of the American public stands, and that is for traditional marriage of one man, one woman.

And by the way, Chris, that's been on the ballot in 31 states and in every one of the states, including left-wing states like Maine and California, it's been affirmed when the people themselves had a chance to vote for it. [Fox Broadcasting Co., Fox News Sunday, 6/27/10]

Huckabee: "I Am Not ... Pro-Gay, Pro-Sodomy." Huckabee had the following discussion with conservative activist Ann Coulter in January 10, 2009:

COULTER: A little more conservative, and you would have had my vote.

HUCKABEE: Well, OK. I'm going to give you a copy. I'm going to ask you to read my book. And if you find anything in there that isn't conservative -- I'm pro-life.

COULTER: Well, I know that.

HUCKABEE: I'm very pro-Second Amendment.

COULTER: I know that.

HUCKABEE: I am not, as you characterize me in one article, pro-gay, pro-sodomy. That is so not me.

COULTER: Yes. There was a Supreme Court decision you said you agreed or disagreed with. Yes, I got you on that, Mike Huckabee.

HUCKABEE: Nope, you didn't. I am definitely not pro-sodomy, I promise, Scout's honor. There are many things that I may be, but that is not one of them. [Fox News, Huckabee, 1/10/09]

On His Show, Huckabee Suggests That Iowa Governor Should "Def[y]" Court Decision And Strike Down The Same Sex Marriage Ban Like Lincoln Did With Dred Scott. Discussing an Iowa Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage on his May 3, 2009 Fox News show, Huckabee said:

HUCKABEE: This isn't the first time there's been a conflict between executive and legislative and/or executive branches. The Dred Scott decision, back in the 1850s that was rendered by the Supreme Court said that people of color essentially were not fully human being. Abraham Lincoln defied the Dred Scott decision, and in fact later issued the Emancipation Proclamation. So, I mean, one of our highest moments in the land was when the executive branch essentially said thanks for your opinion, but that isn't the law, and it's -- beyond that, it's not right. And so he took a different course. Is that what you're asking for, is for the governor to use the legislative body, the elected representatives and to say, wait a minute court, let's see if that's what the people think?

BOB VANDER PLAATS (unsuccessful Republican candidate for Iowa governor): I'm asking for a full-out discussion of the separation of powers. What's interesting about the Dred Scott decision is that is what was got Abraham Lincoln interested again in politics. But I would tell your viewers here, this isn't just an issue for the state of Iowa. This is an issue for every American that we need to wrestle with. Not only the definition of marriage, but what is the separation of powers within the state of Iowa and across the country.

HUCKABEE: Well and clearly, one of the things that matters if you wonder, well why does it matter to me, I live in a different state. Because if people go to Iowa, get the license, get married, and come to your state, what's going to happen? They'll be filing a lawsuit and then saying if they are recognized in Iowa, they have to be recognized everywhere because of the Full Faith and Credit act of the United States Constitution. [Fox News, Huckabee, 5/3/09]

On His Show, Huckabee Attacks Obama For Including LGBT Issues In the Civil Rights Page Of White House Website. In the first show after Obama's inauguration, Huckabee had the following conversation:

HUCKABEE: Barack Obama ran his presidential campaign promising unity and change. But within five minutes from his swearing in, the White House website posted the president's goals for the country, and some of them tell a very different story than unity. There's certainly change. Despite the calls for unity, his mission seems to be about repealing controversial legislation including things like the Defense Of Marriage Act that was signed by Bill Clinton.

[...]

HUCKABEE: I got an email shortly -- I guess within a couple of hours after the swearing in. Somebody said, have you seen the White House website. I said no, and they sent me some stuff that they said were on it. I didn't think that was true. So I went to the website. In fact, we've got a MacBook here that I'm going to navigate. There's a section, and this is the homepage. And if you go to what's called the agenda and then under civil rights, for example. We're just going to get into it. There's some pretty interesting things here. This is not necessarily what many Americans thought they were going to be seeing. And one of the categories, support for the LGBT community. LGBT, doesn't spell it out. For the uninitiated out there in America, and I think a lot of people would say "what is that?" What are we talking about here?

MATTHEW STAVER (chairman of the Liberty Counsel): Well it's the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Transgender community. And within five minutes, as you said, of his swearing in, as you said, the entire WhiteHouse.gov website changed, and it was a different agenda than many people anticipated. Most of the people that voted for him, and I don't believe understand what his agenda really is, but on the LGBT, it is the far left agenda of the gay and lesbian movement. [Fox News, Huckabee, 1/24/09]

On Fox, Huckabee Attacked Groups That "Say They're Conservative But Think It's OK To Overturn The Historical Definition Of Marriage." From the February 10 edition of Fox Business' Freedom Watch:

HUCKABEE: I don't care if there are people who are homosexual. That's their business. But here's what I do care about. I do care that we would have a group of people that would say they're conservative but think it's OK to overturn the historical definition of marriage. Marriage still means something. When it doesn't mean anything, then it has had a severe impact upon the social fabric. [Fox Business' Freedom Watch, 2/10/11]

Huckabee Hosts Virulently Anti-Gay Guests In Segments On LGBT Issues

Matthew Staver

Huckabee Hosts Matthew Staver From Liberty Counsel. In his January 24, 2009, segment attacking Obama for including LGBT issues in the civil rights section in his website, Huckabee hosted Matthew Staver from Liberty Counsel and Liberty University.

Staver's Group Suggests Schools Should Encourage Students To View Homosexuality As "Temporary Sexual Confusion." From an April 7, 2010 post on Staver's website titled "Pediatrician Sets the Facts Straight about Sexual Orientation and Gender Confusion":

The letter reminds school superintendents that it is not uncommon for adolescents to experience transient confusion about their sexual orientation and that most students will ultimately adopt a heterosexual orientation if not otherwise encouraged. For this reason, schools should avoid developing policies that encourage nonheterosexual attractions among students who may merely be experimenting or experiencing temporary sexual confusion. Such premature labeling can lead some adolescents to engage in homosexual behaviors that carry serious physical and mental health risks.

There is no scientific evidence that anyone is born homosexual. Therefore, the College further advises that schools should not teach or imply to students that homosexual attraction is innate, always life-long, and unchangeable. To the contrary, research has shown that therapy to restore heterosexual attraction can be effective for many people.

It is not the school's role to diagnose or attempt to treat any student's medical condition, and certainly not the school's role to "affirm" a student's perceived personal sexual orientation. The "Facts About Youth" website counters the propaganda published by the pro-homosexual pamphlet called "Just the Facts," which is riddled with inaccuracies.

Mathew D. Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, commented: "Public schools can harm students by suggesting that same-sex attractions are natural and unchangeable. Research shows that youth who experience sexual confusion often do so only for a temporary period. To suggest to a student that temporary sexual confusion means the person is homosexual can be damaging and harmful. The information provided by the 'Facts About Youth' website is invaluable for anyone who works with children." [Liberty Counsel, 4/7/10]

Staver Attacked Janet Napolitano For Appointing Gay Judges. In 2009, Staver's group announced an "Adopt A Liberal" program that "encourages people to pray for those in leadership to restore poor leaders to right thinking." One of the people targeted by Staver was Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. One of his major criticisms of Napolitano was that "Twenty percent of the state judicial appointments Napolitano made as governor were of homosexuals, reflecting her pro-homosexual agenda." [Liberty Counsel, 10/5/09, 10/5/09]

Staver Suggested Washington Mutual Collapse Was Related To The Company's Support For Gay Rights. In a September 29, 2008 post attacking Google for putting out a statement against California's Proposition 8, Staver's group stated "Of course, Google is not the only search engine available to consumers. Washington Mutual became an active supporter of the homosexual agenda. But today, it is no more. Corporate America has learned the hard way that anti-family policies are bankrupt in more ways than one." [Liberty Counsel, 9/29/08]

Porter Suggested "Homosexual Activists," Abortion-Rights Activists And The ACLU Are "Enemies Of God." From a WorldNetDaily column by Janet Porter:

To those who still believe that we should stay out of the cultural war, I have a question: How is that working out for you?

We now have two generations who are lost in the lies of humanism, evolution and homosexuality, facilitated into fornication and abortion, trapped in pornography and devastated by divorce. Congratulations.

If you're still having a hard time discerning what to do, here's a helpful hint: if you find yourself on the same side as the ACLU, homosexual activists, the baby killers and the enemies of God, chances are, you're on the wrong side.

Put the rocks down. Come out of the closet and bring your manger scene with you. Spend more time reading the Bible (and the news) than all those rock-throwing slander sites. Because all the people that they're targeting? They're the ones fighting to keep the Internet, the airwaves and the public square free. And if they're successful, they're also the ones who will keep the padlock off your closet door. [WorldNetDaily, 6/8/10]

Porter Funded Ads Promoting "Ex-Gay" Movement In Order To Fight Efforts To Protect Gays From Discrimination. From an August 13, 1998 New York Times article:

As a startup in the already crowded field of conservative Christian public advocacy organizations, the Center was in search of a strategy and a focus. Ms. Folger had been at work developing a series of ''animated cartoons for children promoting biblical values,'' she said, when she realized that the advertising campaign on homosexuality was more timely.

''The final straw,'' she said, came in June when Michael D. McCurry, the White House press secretary, denounced Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, the majority leader, as ''backward'' for comparing homosexuality to alcoholism and kleptomania.

''She's looking for a way to influence the debate,'' Mr. Reed said, ''and she's smart enough to know that it's easier to dive into a topic that people are already talking about than to try and start a new conversation.''

The advertisement that ran in The New York Times featured a photograph of Anne Paulk, with a caption that read, ''Wife, mother and former lesbian, and '' showed a portrait of men and women gathered at a convention for Exodus, an ex-gay ministry. Ms. Folger said she wanted to strike at the assumption that homosexuality is immutable and that gay people therefore need protection under anti-discrimination laws. [New York Times, 8/13/98]

Rev. Anthony Evans

On Huckabee, Rev. Anthony Evans Claimed Obama's Decision Not To Defend Defense Of Marriage Act Is Akin To "Breaking Up" His Own "Beautiful Family." From the February 26 edition of Fox News' Huckabee.

EVANS: Well, Governor, as you know, we supported the president. We love the president. We love his family. And the Bible teaches us, of course, to pray for our leaders. And, but the -- what offended us -- the church -- is the fact that he has such a beautiful family and he continued to advocate breaking up that family by interjecting this sort of foreign object called gay marriage. And it just doesn't fit. And our congregations and our congregants believe that the President -- it seems like he is struggling with this issue, but -- and we certainly want to help the President out here. [Fox News, Huckabee, 2/26/11]

Rev. Anthony Evans, president of the D.C. Black Church Initiative, filed his group's protest March 27. Evan's letter did not mince words: ''Granting the permit will undermine the moral character of the Shaw community, stain its tradition and send the wrong message to children and families,'' it reads in part. ''The pending applicant in question will only promote an alternative lifestyle that runs counter to the values of the Shaw community.'' [Metro Weekly, 8/24/06]

Evans: Same Sex Marriage Is "Not A Civil Rights Issue" Because We Don't "Sic Dogs" On Gay People. From a Metro Weekly article:

''Well, it's fairly simple. We look at gay marriage as -- not a civil rights issue, but a moral question. And the moral question is that, in our tradition two men together, or two women together, it makes no sense. It makes no biblical sense to us....''

''We love Coretta [Scott King], but she was absolutely, fundamentally, 100% wrong on this issue. And it was an issue that even her husband would have corrected her on.... Martin was very heterosexual! He would not have perceived this as a civil rights issue. Martin was not blind for gay marriage, simply because Bernard Rustin, who was one of his chief strategists, was gay. And he had every opportunity to, in the '60s, to raise civil rights issues around the gay question, because Bernard Rustin was there....''

''I reject the notion that gay marriage, that fighting for gays is equal to the Civil Rights Movement. Simply because of the fact that they were not -- they were. We don't sick -- we don't sick dogs on them. We don't beat them up. We don't hose them with hoses. And we don't burn down their houses because they're black -- er, they're gay. We don't do that in this country!'' [Metro Weekly, 8/5/10]

Evans: "The Church" Is At "War" With The Gay Community. From The Washington Blade:

"This law was forced down the church's throat and what the Supreme Court has set up is the greatest civil war between the church and the gay community," Evans said. "And let me just state for the record, we don't want that fight. We love our gay brothers and sisters. But if the Supreme Court is not going to acknowledge the fact that we have a right as religious people to have a say-so in the framework of religious ethics for our culture and society, then we reject the Supreme Court on this issue." [The Washington Blade, 1/18/11]